News Round-Up 31/12/10

Happy New Year, everyone.

It's the end of an interesting year for Pirate Party UK. We've taken part in our first General Election, gathering over 1000 votes; we've elected our first Board of Governors, and our second Party Leader; we've taken part in our first local election; and now we're gearing up for a Parliamentary By-Election in the New Year, and the elections and referendum in May. We appreciate the support you've shown us since our formation in 2009, and we hope you stay with us as we enter this next stage in our journey.

Oldham East & Saddleworth By-Election Update (31/12/10)

Despite short deadlines, and delivery woes, we have now secured our mailshot.

The next task is to get help from our members on foot in Oldham and Saddleworth to gather support for the campaign. We will definitely be out on 3rd and 8th January and any other day we can. What we also need from those who cant come and help us in Oldham is for people to get in contact with local business groups and community groups to arrange meetings with Loz and interviews. Dont look for approval, just send Graeme an email or text when it is done, the more the merrier.

We also need confirmation from those wanting to be counting and polling agents, we would like to get as close to the 37 agent limit as possible for the count and at the moment we only have a handful confirmed. We need you to email Graeme at g.lambert@pirateparty.org.uk or text him at 07538082246 if you want to come with your name and the address for Oldham council to send your pass too, which you need to get into the count. We will provide you with accommodation, bring a sleeping bag for it to be comfortable accommodation! The sooner you book transport like train journeys the better and cheaper it will be. We may be able to assist with the costs, just ask!

Full details at http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/blog/2010/dec/31/oes-election-update/

Pirate Parties Condemn Violence Against Wikileaks' Staff (30/12/10)

In a joint declaration with other Pirate Parties, today the Pirate Party of the United Kingdom strongly condemns any attacks on Wikileaks infrastructure and more so any attacks on Wikileaks staff, as reported by Wikileaks in March and again by Julian Assange this week.

"Any democracy worth its name should distance itself immediately from any such actions" says Mark Wood, Vice-Secretary for Whistleblowing at Pirate Parties International and Member of the Board of Governors at Pirate Party UK. "Personal attacks and threats against anyone publishing information, are not what democracy is about. Should Wikileaks do anything illegal, they should be prosecuted through due process of law, which until now has - not surprisingly - not happened".

...

Read the full press release here: http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/press/releases/2010/dec/30/pirate-parties-condemn-violence-against-wikileaks-/

Pirate Conference Tickets Now On Sale

Tickets for our first conference in Glasgow are now on sale via http://pirateconference.eventbrite.com/

Individual tickets cost £18.50, and can be paid in advance via paypal, or on the door. If you plan to pay on the door, please still register your attendance with eventbrite - you do not have to pay now.

The conference will take place on Saturday 26th February, from 9:30am, at
USSA
90 John Street
G1 1JH
Glasgow

Piratecon 2011 from the Czech Pirates

I would like to invite all pirates to our informal conference piratecon.cz. It will be an event held in a bastion of the Czech Pirates Ústí nad Labem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Ast%C3%AD_nad_Labem - we got 2% in the municipal elections there, which is quite remarkable since Ústí has 100 000 inhabitants.

The programme in english is outlined here http://piratecon.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/create-the-legend-with-us/ information on accomodation (less than 10Euro a night) can be found here http://piratecon.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/ubytovani-accomodation/

There will be 4 main conference lines (Pirate ideology, Pirates in Cyberspace, Pirate History, Pirates and Cannabis) We will have interpreters for the foreign visitors and there will be a party both at friday night and saturday night (czech beer is excellent). For more information contact me (mikulas.ferjencik@ceskapiratskastrana.cz) or the pirates from Ústí nad labem directly (cpsustinadlabem@gmail.com).

See you in Ústí nad Labem 28.1. – 30.1. 2011

Mikulas Ferjencik, Vice-president of Pirate Party Czech Republic